Water New Zealand supportive of drinking water subsidies for small communities – urges for further funding

Water New Zealand believes that the $10 million in drinking water subsidies just issued in the final round of the Government’s scheme is an essential part of assisting New Zealand’s small communities.

“Everyone has a right to fresh drinking water – it should be a given in a first world country like ours,” says John Pfahlert, CEO of Water New Zealand. “The public health benefits to New Zealand are demonstrable, in that these subsidy schemes assist communities which are simply unable to finance these projects without external assistance.

“Community demand is as strong as ever for this subsidy support, especially small rural communities and marae. We therefore believe there is an ongoing need to continue assisting small communities in New Zealand to upgrade drinking water supplies. A second round of funded should be implemented.

“Given that standards for drinking water and waste water disposal are largely set at a national level, there is some responsibility on Central Government to support these communities. Local Government New Zealand recently passed a remit at their annual conference endorsing such an approach and calling for government funding of $20m to be made available to each of these schemes on an ongoing basis. Water New Zealand endorses this call.”

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